Japanese attacked Emidio

April 05, 2007 12:00 am

The S.S. Emidio carried oil along the Pacific Coast until a Japanese sub damaged it in 1941. The vessel ran aground at Steamboat Rock near Battery Point. (Photo courtesy of Del Norte Historical Society).

The became a California landmark in 1951, almost 10 years after the oil tanker attacked by a Japanese submarine.

On Dec. 20, , the Emidio was 200 miles north of San Francisco when a crewmember spotted a Japanese submarine. Crew from the sub opened fire on the Emidio with a 14-centimeter gun and killed five of the tanker's crew.

The Japanese submarine then fired a torpedo into the Emidio. The remaining crew members, 43 in total, escaped in lifeboats while the Japanese continued to spray the abandoned vessel with bullets.

Though filled with holes, the Emidio did not sink. Instead it floated northward until it came to rest Crescent City's harbor.